1. No impact: Lifton is not writing about disease he is drawing a comparison between Nazi doctor’s calling the Jews a health threat and the way the US described Soviet Russia as a spreading virus – this has literally nothing to do with the affirmative.
2. Alternate causality: The US and UN have sanctions on Iran.
Agence France Presse, 7-29-07 (Justin Cole, “US tightens financial squeeze on Iran,” Lexis [T Chenoweth])
The US government is escalating financial sanctions against Iran and ratcheting up pressure on Iranian companies suspected of supporting Tehran's nuclear ambitions. US-Iranian relations deteriorated after the 1979 Islamic revolution, but have worsened since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and following the election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad two years ago. US President George W. Bush claims Iran is racing to develop nuclear weapons, something that Tehran, which has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, denies. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful, although Ahmadinejad has predicted Israel's destruction. As tensions have flared, the world's superpower has brought its financial and economic firepower to bear on Iran, moving in part to cut off Tehran's access to the global financial system. The US Treasury and other government agencies have blacklisted and applied asset freezes against at least 15 Iranian entities so far this year. "We believe that there is a real potential that these sanctions will have the effect of changing the government of Iran's mind about the defiant policy it is currently pursuing," Stuart Levey, the Treasury's undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, told AFP. The United Nations has also invoked sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, which can be used to construct a nuclear bomb. American companies and invididuals are barred from doing business with blacklisted Iranian firms and Washington hopes other countries will step up such actions. Most of the Iranian entities targeted by the US this year, including the Atomic Energy Organization and the Mesbah Energy Company, operate in the nuclear, energy and industrial industries. But Iran's banking sector is also in Washington's sights, as well as Iranian groups it says fund "terrorist" organizations such as Hezbollah, the Lebanese-based Shiite political and militant group. The Treasury blacklisted Iran's fifth-largest state-owned bank, Bank Sepah, in January, claiming it had funded weapons proliferation, including a Chinese firm's sale of "missile-related items" to Iran in 2005. Several Japanese banks reportedly cut ties with another Iranian bank, Bank Saderat, after it was blacklisted last September. Swiss bank UBS ceased its business activities in Iran last year. US lawmakers are also becoming more critical of Iran's nuclear quest. Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama backed legislation in May aimed at stopping international companies from doing business with Iran.
3. No impact – sanctions do not lead to nuclear war, that part of their Davidson evidence is simply making an example of how peoplpe use language to mask the effect of nuclear war.
4. Even if they win that Davidson says sanctions lead to nuclear war that’s in the context of economic sanctions on a state with nukes – not Zimbabwe.
5. Alternate Causality: The US still blocks exports of medicine to Cuba on condition of government reform.
David Rogers, 7-30-07 (The Wall Street Journal, “House Vote Rejects Efforts To Ease Cuba Trade Restrictions” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118582186841582469.html?mod=googlenews_wsj Accessed: 7-30-07 [T Chenoweth])
Anti-Castro lawmakers in Congress are delighted by a House vote last week rejecting efforts to ease restrictions on financing for U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba. The 245-182 vote quashes speculation that the new Democratic Congress will change U.S.-Cuban policy substantially. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D., Fla.), a favorite of her party leaders, helped deliver 66 Democratic votes against an amendment sponsored by the House's chief tax writer, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D., N.Y.). "The message is very clear," said Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R., Fla.). "There will be no possibility of a relaxation of sanctions until there is a democratic constitution in Cuba." Most striking, the fight came on an issue touching on agriculture, always a weak point for proponents of the U.S. trade embargo, which was relaxed in the last years of the Clinton administration to allow U.S. exports of food and medicine. The Bush administration has since imposed tough payment regulations that critics contend are overly burdensome, effectively requiring cash in advance of any shipment from American ports. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R., Mo.) has waged a running battle in the annual Treasury Department appropriations bill to try to get Congress to override these rules and allow cash on delivery. As recently as June 28, pro-embargo forces made a strategic decision not to force a House vote on Ms. Emerson's language. But Mr. Rangel went further. His amendment -- offered to the farm bill last week -- would have allowed direct payments to U.S. banks and permitted visas for Cuban officials traveling to the U.S. to inspect agriculture export facilities. "It went too far. We could not let it go," said Ms. Wasserman Schultz. The timing also left the chairman vulnerable. The farm bill happened to come to the floor after advocates of Cuban sanctions had mounted a lobbying campaign in Congress; the vote on the Rangel amendment was just a day after Raul Castro, Fidel's brother, had addressed his nation on Revolution Day; and Ms. Wasserman Schultz warned colleagues against adding a politically volatile issue to the farm bill. Undaunted, Mr. Rangel described the amendment as a "real win for America and a win for American farmers." But even pro-trade allies were skeptical. "His timing was horrendous," said John Kavulich, a senior policy adviser to the U.S. Cuba Trade and Economic Council. "It's the best we've ever done on any vote that has an ag aspect," said Mr. Diaz-Balart. Ms. Wasserman Schultz, who worked with another Democrat, Rep. Albio Sires of New Jersey, said the 66 Democratic votes represent a solid core now that won't be easy to shake. "The message is: there has not been a lessening of support for the sanctions against Cuba," Rep. Wasserman Schultz said. "Among Democrats there is a solid base for pushing for reform on the island."
2. Alternate causality: The US and UN have sanctions on Iran.
Agence France Presse, 7-29-07 (Justin Cole, “US tightens financial squeeze on Iran,” Lexis [T Chenoweth])
The US government is escalating financial sanctions against Iran and ratcheting up pressure on Iranian companies suspected of supporting Tehran's nuclear ambitions. US-Iranian relations deteriorated after the 1979 Islamic revolution, but have worsened since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and following the election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad two years ago. US President George W. Bush claims Iran is racing to develop nuclear weapons, something that Tehran, which has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, denies. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful, although Ahmadinejad has predicted Israel's destruction. As tensions have flared, the world's superpower has brought its financial and economic firepower to bear on Iran, moving in part to cut off Tehran's access to the global financial system. The US Treasury and other government agencies have blacklisted and applied asset freezes against at least 15 Iranian entities so far this year. "We believe that there is a real potential that these sanctions will have the effect of changing the government of Iran's mind about the defiant policy it is currently pursuing," Stuart Levey, the Treasury's undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, told AFP. The United Nations has also invoked sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, which can be used to construct a nuclear bomb. American companies and invididuals are barred from doing business with blacklisted Iranian firms and Washington hopes other countries will step up such actions. Most of the Iranian entities targeted by the US this year, including the Atomic Energy Organization and the Mesbah Energy Company, operate in the nuclear, energy and industrial industries. But Iran's banking sector is also in Washington's sights, as well as Iranian groups it says fund "terrorist" organizations such as Hezbollah, the Lebanese-based Shiite political and militant group. The Treasury blacklisted Iran's fifth-largest state-owned bank, Bank Sepah, in January, claiming it had funded weapons proliferation, including a Chinese firm's sale of "missile-related items" to Iran in 2005. Several Japanese banks reportedly cut ties with another Iranian bank, Bank Saderat, after it was blacklisted last September. Swiss bank UBS ceased its business activities in Iran last year. US lawmakers are also becoming more critical of Iran's nuclear quest. Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama backed legislation in May aimed at stopping international companies from doing business with Iran.
3. No impact – sanctions do not lead to nuclear war, that part of their Davidson evidence is simply making an example of how peoplpe use language to mask the effect of nuclear war.
4. Even if they win that Davidson says sanctions lead to nuclear war that’s in the context of economic sanctions on a state with nukes – not Zimbabwe.
5. Alternate Causality: The US still blocks exports of medicine to Cuba on condition of government reform.
David Rogers, 7-30-07 (The Wall Street Journal, “House Vote Rejects Efforts To Ease Cuba Trade Restrictions” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118582186841582469.html?mod=googlenews_wsj Accessed: 7-30-07 [T Chenoweth])
Anti-Castro lawmakers in Congress are delighted by a House vote last week rejecting efforts to ease restrictions on financing for U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba. The 245-182 vote quashes speculation that the new Democratic Congress will change U.S.-Cuban policy substantially. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D., Fla.), a favorite of her party leaders, helped deliver 66 Democratic votes against an amendment sponsored by the House's chief tax writer, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D., N.Y.). "The message is very clear," said Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R., Fla.). "There will be no possibility of a relaxation of sanctions until there is a democratic constitution in Cuba." Most striking, the fight came on an issue touching on agriculture, always a weak point for proponents of the U.S. trade embargo, which was relaxed in the last years of the Clinton administration to allow U.S. exports of food and medicine. The Bush administration has since imposed tough payment regulations that critics contend are overly burdensome, effectively requiring cash in advance of any shipment from American ports. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R., Mo.) has waged a running battle in the annual Treasury Department appropriations bill to try to get Congress to override these rules and allow cash on delivery. As recently as June 28, pro-embargo forces made a strategic decision not to force a House vote on Ms. Emerson's language. But Mr. Rangel went further. His amendment -- offered to the farm bill last week -- would have allowed direct payments to U.S. banks and permitted visas for Cuban officials traveling to the U.S. to inspect agriculture export facilities. "It went too far. We could not let it go," said Ms. Wasserman Schultz. The timing also left the chairman vulnerable. The farm bill happened to come to the floor after advocates of Cuban sanctions had mounted a lobbying campaign in Congress; the vote on the Rangel amendment was just a day after Raul Castro, Fidel's brother, had addressed his nation on Revolution Day; and Ms. Wasserman Schultz warned colleagues against adding a politically volatile issue to the farm bill. Undaunted, Mr. Rangel described the amendment as a "real win for America and a win for American farmers." But even pro-trade allies were skeptical. "His timing was horrendous," said John Kavulich, a senior policy adviser to the U.S. Cuba Trade and Economic Council. "It's the best we've ever done on any vote that has an ag aspect," said Mr. Diaz-Balart. Ms. Wasserman Schultz, who worked with another Democrat, Rep. Albio Sires of New Jersey, said the 66 Democratic votes represent a solid core now that won't be easy to shake. "The message is: there has not been a lessening of support for the sanctions against Cuba," Rep. Wasserman Schultz said. "Among Democrats there is a solid base for pushing for reform on the island."